Born in Brooklyn. Raised in Rockaway Beach. Now 83 years old and haven't been back to NYC in decades. Watched this video in absolute stunned silence. Nothing else for me to say.

So many working and middle class people living in Manhattan back then. They gave the city an authenticity and charm that it has definitely lost to the whim of billionaires that one by one tear down the old and build garish new skyscrapers, only to visit a few times a year. So sad.

I am watching this film with nostalgia 😔… I was born in 1958 on 133 W. 89th St. an old turn of the century building, now it has been refurbished. So many beautiful memories… All the neighbors were middle or low middle class honest working people. My brother and I were fairly lucky (he was born in 1960), my mother had the luxury as a “stay home mom.” My dad (RIP) had a very good paid job, he was a foreman, worked in Queens and was well a payed. He could afford to send us to private school. The school was a Catholic one on West 90th street, St. Gregory the Great, it’s not there anymore. At one point all of us tenants were forced to move because the building was going to be torn down, which never happened. All they wanted to do was fix it to sell the units. We moved then to 91st street. As the years passed the area got very expensive. Mom had to study in a Beauty Institute to find a job upon graduation. Then the city became crime infested and dad was involved in a hold up 😢…. Eventually we had to move out of Manhattan… that hurt me so much (which still does today) I am a city gal… Thank you for this film!!! ☺️

These people have more dignity than the folks I see these days. And no one staring at their phone.

R.I.P. Eddie Albert and all those featured in this video who have passed away.

I love how old school documentarians ask really blunt questions without establishing more than the lightest rapport as if it's normal. "So, are you a happy man?"

I was 15 and in high school when this film was out. I attended Haaren High school, on 10th Avenue, between 58th & 59th street. I was born in Brooklyn, Kings County Hospital, in 1946. Lived in Bed- Sty until I was 8, then my mom moved to Ft. Greene Housing Projects. (R.V. Ingersoll Housing/ Walt Witman Housing) I loved growing up there, it was like a family village. You learned a lot about life and how to survive in the real world. I still harbor fond memories of my time, growing up and living there.

Everyone is dressed so nicely. I wish people weren’t so sloppy today.

1961 was the year I was born back in the BRONX. WHAT AN ASTRONOMICAL DIFFERENCE COMPARE WHAT it IS TO DAY.

I was in NYC back in 1965 for the New York Worlds Fair. I had the best time of my life and made some of the most memorable experiences.

Lovely stuff. Speaks volumes that Katz Deli is frequented by working people in the film and is now just a tourist trap, with huge queues and $25 sandwiches.

I was 8 years old living in Queens when this film was produced so I feel a bit more connection than most however a large part of the film relates to a lifestyle that the vast majority of New Yorkers would never live be it Turtle Bay or even the owner of a deli. But there is gold here… the Russian immigrant from 1913 asked what makes a man happy. He responded… moments of not being hungry or sick. The first half of my seventy years were lived in NYC and its environs. I met a refugee from Vietnam in NYC in 1976. We married in 1977. We would end up living in Vietnam the second half of my life where we remain. Thankfully not hungry … not sick and therefore happy… with happy memories of NYC and a happy life here all thanks to lucky stars!

Was born this year and i know the City very well. NYer most of my life andy sad ahowed me all of old NYC. Glad i lived to see it because one day people will never believe it existed. But, i lived it AND I LOVED IT. Bye bye NYC it was so good to know you!!!

I love historical footage of NYC . I am OBSESSED with old stores and movie theatres . TOO often the cameras do not go INSIDE anywhere , but here they do ! Loved the S. Kleins "bargain basement" shot, the shot of that narrow novelty store and even those high end stores . I love seeing all the old vintage merchandise on the shelves. If I had ONE WISH it would be footage INSIDE those little "ma & pa" candy and soda shops that were in Brooklyn and Queens at the time. By the 1970s they all shut down the "soda fountain" areas and just used the counter as space for snacks , candy, open display boxes of Ring Dings and Yodels and chips . Anyone else from 86th Street in Brooklyn ?

This is Eddie Albert narrating and in the first scene. The guy from Green Acres, Mr. Douglas. Eddie got to live a long life dying at the age of 99 in 2005.

Watching this made me very emotional. I’m a child of the 70s and 80s but watching this makes me miss something I feel I’ve lived before in another life. I’m sure it wasn’t always easy in those times but things were much simpler than this world we live in now. 😢

A beautiful, innocent film with a jazz complexity portending the dissonance to come. I've lived here 60 years and will probably be here till I die. What a beautiful place - not compared to rurality, but for us who come from here, still home.

Wonderful film! I would have been 11 when this was made, I lived in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and what we see in this film is how I remember things. No one will ever convince me that things weren't better back then!

Our host is Eddie Albert from Green Acres. He was a great actor. 🙏🏻

Thank you for posting this terrific video! The ferry Captain is priceless. I hadn't realized how skillful you have to be to navigate the shifting (and, strong) currents in the E River and then dock without jarring the passengers.

American cities were once a site to behold and American engineering marvels.

A short few years after the making of this film, Eddie Albert had a 100 % complete reversal of his love for Manhattan. So much so that he dragged his city-loving wife who went kicking and screaming the entire way to a farm in the Missouri Ozarks. A place called Hooterville. Just down the road from Crabwell Corners, Pixley, and Bug Tussle, home of the Clampetts, the Shady Rest Hotel, Arnold the Pig, Mr Haney And Sam Drucker. Talk about grounds for divorce!

This is a wonderful, almost magical look back to a slice of time I fear is gone for good. NYC used to be wonderful. I was 5, when this was made, and it would be 6 more years for me to see it, albeit from an airplane that landed at the central airport. I couldn't believe that the lights were buildings. We took a cab to Kennedy, but it was dark. The next time I saw it was 73, and Times Square was just awful. There were X-XXX movies. I felt very unsafe. I had a girlfriend, and she and I would leave our children with our husbands, and come to this city to shop for our children. I mainly got ideas of what I wanted to sew, but she had lots of money, and I helped her pick things out for her daughter. She had no sense of style, of how to put an outfit together for a child, but I did. It was fun.

Born Sydenham Hospital, 1961, Harlem. Grew up in the Riverton. Proud New Yorker. 👍🏽😎🇺🇸

I love these old style documentaries. Very relaxing to watch. New stuff today has way too many fast edits. People today got the tiktok brain. Every few seconds a jump cut.

When this was filmed I was a newborn up in Harlem/Washington Heights. Now here I am today 62yrs later, a product of NYC public schools, retired, having done the reverse migration thing , bought a home with living space in the south that I simply couldn't afford in the NY/NJ area. I'm about to collect social security to supplement my pension. I spent most of my life in NYC and later across the river in Northern NJ. 3 yrs ago when the younger of our 3 kids graduated from HS and went away to college, we sold our NJ home and migrated south. Things got to a point where it was time to re-locate to a warmer clime and a LOWER COST OF LIVING. I have to honestly say that I don't miss NYC. I'm glad we moved. Life is SHORT. Pretty much all of the people in this clip are gone. YOLO!!!

This film 🎥 has meant so very much too me 😉🗽🇺🇸🎭🙏🏼✝️🎈#ThankYou 💜

‘Simply captivating ‘documentary !!!🎥 📚🗽🎭🎈💯#SOULFUL #Grateful

A world long gone by.

I was 10 years old living on Isham Street when this movie was shot. My dad worked for the telephone company and my mom was a beautiful housewife caring for us 3 kids. You can feel the life of the city coming up from the sidewalk through the soles of your feet. And those feet would always be walking fast! To work, to school, to parks, museums, shopping, and always there were people!! This movie truly showed ordinary New Yorkers.. the invisble ones. I am so thrilled their voices and faces have been preserved some 60 years! And yet, today's New Yorkers are still as every bit as beautiful now as they were then. They create their own energy. Life is about working hard and creating value for the millions engaged with the city. There are wealthy people and poor people, but everyone brings something unique to the street.

This incarnation of the big apple is long lost to time, thanks for this great upload

Originally telecast on July 27, 1961.

I was only one year old when this was filmed. I lived in San Fransisco and remember when i was 3 i could just run around outside, even go the the little store around the corner. Just me and my 4 year old sister. How it’s all changed is really sad.

I was 3 days old when this film was published and living in Hoboken, NJ, a stone's throw from Manhattan. NYC was integral to our lives for employment and recreation. I had relatives who lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The middle and lower middle class are now gone from the city, Despite all of the growth of the city since 1961, it makes me sad that the "real people" are gone now.

Brooklyn 1960's thru 70's & 80's here 🕺🌇🌆 who else remembers ?

What a difference multi culturaism has in society

Fresh air, Times Square. This is a wistful video of a time long gone by. Glad it was filmed in black & white which adds to the appeal.

Loved Washington Square. ❤❤❤

Great to see NYC the year I was born Especially since I never went there until 2017

The year that I was born...simpler times.

"It looks just like a mountain of gold." That is exactly what NYC looks like at night. The best description ever!

So much for his belief, _"Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside!"_ This film lets Eddie Albert display his eclectic and deep intellect. He was really a brilliant observer and very knowledgeable about science and society. Of course, he'll always be the hilariously perplexed farmer Oliver!

Born in Manhattan, 1961, raised on 3rd St and 1st Ave, lower East Side, Thanks so much for this!

Born, raised, and still here, it's always a pleasure to view NYC just before or following my birth, knowing later I would enjoy the life. I'm always fascinated comparing the decades of what was, and is, now. Times Square then? And now. Midtown then? How it is now. Priceless of things that change yet still the same.

Born in Harlem 3 years after this documentary was made; great images of this grand old city.

They were much more poetic in describing things back then.

I grew up in 80s & 90s Staten Island but I appreciate this so much bc my fam was here during this video was made in Brooklyn and I like to imagine them walking around In this version of the city :) NYC is the best city on earth 🤍

Born in the Bronx in 1952! Left in the early 70’s for a new life out West! Met a Philly girl in Az. Returned back East to Philadelphia Pa. 22 years ago!

Thanks for this fascinating documentary. I enjoyed it very much. 👍🏻

EXCELLENT THANK YOU ONLY FOR REAL NEW YORKERS GREAT MEMORIES

NYC rapidly decayed after this film, it was the NYC of my youngest years, I still remember it, the automats, the checkered cabs, the noise and the way people dressed. The only thing that's improved since 1961 is the air quality, it was the absolute pits at this time as most buildings had garbage incinerators and a lot of manufacturing was still on going in the Bronx and Queens (Gowanus Canal was its most polluted at this point). Think the best I ever saw NYC was in 2008 and 2010 when I went back and saw it vibrant once more.

This is amazing! Thank you so much for posting this. A real snapshot of life in The City with real New Yorkers from back in 1961. I was born a few years later and grew up in Bayside, Queens. The hustle and bustle was and always will be present in NYC, however, so much of the culture has changed dramatically.

Beautiful time capsule. It’s fascinating to peer into people’s lives and to experience how truly humble they are. I would have loved to have seen Mary Martin in the Sound of Music (shown on the marquee here). No longer the city that never sleeps then and now. Nothing like a New Yorker who loves NYC. Born in Los Angeles in 56 and moved to Brooklyn in 86. NYC was the dream place.

Thank you for posting this

I worked in downtown Manhattan for two years. I left that assignment a couple of years before the first World Center bombing. I really enjoyed the whole experience. From finally being accepted (after a year or so) as a regular at a diner for each breakfast (bagel and lox), to the street musicians over long lunch "hours". Everyone seemed to think that at least 90 minutes was of normal length for lunch.

Just a few years before I was born. I interesting video. I'm from Brooklyn.

Great movie!

I was 8 in 1961…… I loved it when I was a child……. Being an adult sucks, especially today…….👎👎👎👎

I was born in Manhattan in 60's, it was really cool see that ...Thanks!

Born in 66 but this time period in America fascinates me .

Just terrific!

It was definitely a more vital city back in the day - anyone could move there and find a place to live and a job to support themselves, and that's why so many artists came to New York in the 20th century and gave the city its legendary reputation of greatness. NY still tries to trade on that reputation, but its dwindling. Now it's a city for the rich and the artists are going elsewhere. Poverty can certainly kill a city, but excessive concentrations of wealth can also have a deadening effect. Perhaps the 21st century will see a new US city rise to greatness while NY becomes a fading memory of past greatness.

What everyone should notice in this video is that there are hardly any obese people to be seen! For God's sake, everybody, if you want to live to a ripe old age, change your diet! It is the ultraprocessed food people are consuming that is causing people to be overweight! This results in all kinds of health problems leading to an early death! Start eating better, everybody! Eat whole fruits and vegetables, avoid fast food as much as possible, and most important of all, don't touch anything that contains a lot of sugar! Sugar in large quantities is a deadly poison! I am now 71 years old, in quite good health because I eat properly, but people my age are dropping like flies! Most of these people were overweight, and as a result had health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure! Regarding exercise, it goes without saying that a certain amount of exercise is necessary for good health, but you don't have to go to the extreme with this! You don't have to run a marathon every week! I am from Canada, and just like every Western country, there is a huge problem with obesity here! In countries like India and China, as soon as the people there consume western food, they end up becoming overweight as well! Look at the video carefully, and as I pointed out earlier, there are hardly any obese people to be seen! It is not just this video, any film from this era and earlier shows the same thing!

This film captures the New York of Jane Jacobs, author of "The Death and Life of Great American Cities". Not too many years after this, she abandoned NYC for Toronto, because this style of New York invisible life was fast becoming obsolete.

Interesting/informative/entertaining. Excellent photography job along with interviews of workers from different occupations-!!!🤗. Very good tour of the different city areas. Enjoyed viewing the fruit & veggie stands/side walk cafes/deli shops & so forth😉. Glad to know that the once city dweller Oliver Wendell Douglas finally found his beloved " Green Acres "-!!!🤗. Wishing viewers a safe/healthy/prosperous (2024)🌈🎉💵😉.

1961 I was in nursery school Feel like reading Life magazine archives which I have downloaded on my laptop!!

Many of us feel nostalgia for a place where we never lived. This is a great documentary from a time when NYC was entering a Golden Age of sorts. In 1945, itwas the only major city in the Western World that had come through WW2 without being totally or partially destroyed. So it had a head start on becoming a glamorous (but real) place. My favorite segment of this film is the one of Gramercy Park.

Fascinating. I really enjoyed this!

I had a friend in California Keith Marso who had a Photo on his mantle of Eddie Arnold .

Yikes. What happened to society and this country in such a short time. Eerie and scary. If you don't see it, you're part of the problem.

wow, what a wonderful film with Eddie Albert. 1961 has always been a favourite year and New York ... what an amazing place. Must admit, I would have been down off to Greenwich to check out Dylan as well as picking up a few copies of Fantastic Four 1 (and perhaps a few golden age comics as well in a second hand book store). Loved seeing all the fashions, the streets, the shops, the food etc

“Busy in a ‘busy way” !!!🐝#Touching

the man at 22 minutes ❤️❤️

All of those people were actually happy! They liked what they did and where they lived - and they didn't have loads of money and they were genuinely happy! Lessons to be learned here! (Alas, the happy people and the happy neighborhoods got pushed out for more expensive high rise residentials... that now sit half empty and unhappy.)

Amazing to see how well dressed everyone was back then. Now nobody cares.

Great video great time then

13:18 129 Pitt Street has an apartment building there now. Those tenements were demolished.

Talking about people not looking at their phones reference today but back then a lot people didn’t have house phnones

Goodbye old New York

I was born in 1962. I remember the 60's fairly well, the 70's even better.I would like to forget. Is that actor Eddie Albert narrating?

There were good old days when people weren't forced to pretend that a person wearing a costume claiming to be a cat was actually a cat. There were many other things that were more mentally healthy back then.

I’m from Chicago but have both 1960 and 1961 mint condition Mickey Mantle cards. 😊

Good video. I grew up in the Bronx in the 60s and 70s. Nothing has changed really, people did then what they do now, the difference is a far more open society now where everything is talked about openly.

There is no city as big as NYC in the USA.👍🏾🎯

4 years after this film, Eddie would star as a New York City lawyer who moves to the country and takes up farming, on "Green Acres".

I wonder if Mr Blue's (the window cleaner)descendants know about this film. How cool would it be to watch a film of my great grandfather being interviewed 63 yrs ago!

We came to find America. Some brought mischief and didn’t want to play. And Miss Liberty reminds us it’s all okay.

I was 4 months old ! Born in Passaic, New Jersey. . .

So this is how Oliver Douglas got the extra money to quit practicing law and move to Hooterville.

It's always fune to look back, but now is always better.

If anyone would know about NYC it’s Oliver Wendell Douglas

Watching this optimistic view of NYC at that time I cannot help but think of the gritty, grimy side of the city that it does not show. Think 12 Angry Men filmed a few years before, and a few years later, The Pawnbroker, both directed by Sidney Lumet. They provide a correction.

I was born in NYC 9 years after this. Even in the 70's things were safer than they are now. In 2024, if you take a snooze in Central Park or anywhere in NY, at minimum you can get set on fire or killed.

They sure picked the right title for this little beauty. It really is invisible. Last time I went to New York City only white person I saw, was when I looked in a store window and saw my reflection. Guess Eddie Albert couldn’t find the bus to Harlem.👩🏿‍⚖️🧑🏿‍💼🙍🏿‍♂️🤦🏿‍♀️🧏🏿‍♂️🙋🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🧑🏿‍🍳

Cant help but think of Mad Men series

Att: KZfaq, you should know that everytime one of your ads interrupts the viewing, I mute that ad and vow that I will never purchase anything you are pushing on us.

bella la colonna sonora di Ezra Laderman

@39:01 "indefatiguable" [tireless]

I had to laugh at the interview with the housewife with three boys. It was like the interviewer had never met a human baby before. He also didn't seem to understand why the tv would be such a draw after both the husband and wife had long, exhausting days.

Born 2/27/61 in harlem NYC. .